1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic still video camera by which a still image signal obtained through an imaging device, such as a CCD, is recorded in a recording medium, such as an IC memory card.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electronic still video camera to which a plurality of IC memory cards can be mounted is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-91455. This electronic still video camera is provided with two slots, each slot mounting an IC memory card, and senses a remaining recordable capacity in each IC memory card so that an image signal is recorded in one of the IC memory cards.
In the conventional electronic still video camera described above, the image signal representing one image may be recorded only in one of the IC memory cards during each photographing operation. Therefore, when a photographer wants to record an image signal to more than one IC memory card, or to a different recording medium, the image signal must be recorded to one of the IC memory cards mounted in the camera, and then subsequently dubbed to another IC memory card or recording medium, which is a cumbersome operation.
Further, since such an electronic still video camera has fewer mechanical parts than a usual camera, it is suitable for high speed continuous operation in which an object image is sequentially recorded repeatedly with a constant time interval. Hence, by using an electronic still video camera in which a plurality of IC memory cards can be mounted as described above, a continuous recording operation can be carried out, by which a large number of images can be recorded.
However, in such an electronic still video camera, if a voltage is applied to all of the card slots continuously while in a continuous record mode, a power supply, such as a battery, will be discharged quickly. This is a serious problem in that the recording operation will become impossible to complete due to over consumption of the battery.